Cobalt Streak
by DuskW
Summary: I was created as a guinea pig to be experimented on, but I escaped from my tormentors and was found by my Dad.  I lost my friends the day I escaped and now a new tragedy reveals that they are still alive.  Now it's time to face my past and save my friends
1. Chapter 1

Well this is my first foray into writing a MR fic, now it's mostly going to follow my own characters through their own story. There will be interactions with Max and the Flock but don't expect them to be in it all the time. The time line will take place starting from "The Angel Experiment", so leave a review and tell me what you think. Enjoy.

The Maximum Ride series is owned by James Patterson, all new characters that you don't know are mine.

_**Cobalt Streak**_

_**Chapter 1**_

The dream, it's always the same dream. Running half beaten to death through the woods, the sound of wolves at my back, their howling getting closer as I stumble along. I look back and see their breath rising like fog as they get closer to me, my own breath sputtering as I try to catch it.

_It's no use._ I think to myself as I cradle my broken arm. Why do I always think that, I don't usually say "Hey I'm giving up go ahead and beat me to death." That's not the kind of person I am, but the dream me always gives up there. I watch as the wolves finally come into view and as usual they are enormous, easily towering over me.

I see the blood dripping from their mouths, staining their bared teeth as they stalk closer to me. I hear the howl of another wolf, only it's farther away and in pain. My heart always goes out to that one seeing as how it tried to save little dream me from the pack about to tear me to shreds. The pack leader brings itself right in front of me and I stand my ground. _Fight or flight?_ The question whispers through me and before I choose the wolf lunges.

It's usually at that point that I wake up and just like usual I do. I find myself sitting up right in my bed, sweat running down my face and my hand covering my eye. If I went to a psychiatrist I'm pretty sure he/she would tell me that I have some weird repressed memories from my childhood. Well let me save you the trouble their Doc, I do have troubled times in my childhood but hey I got over them. It's true I got over it about as easy as any other kid would if they were created in a lab just to be tortured to see how you worked, but hey that's just me.

The clock on my nightstand read 06:00 and after a nice session of dream slaughter I don't think sleeping in is a choice, so I got out of bed and went about my usual morning routine. I grabbed my eye patch off the nightstand and put it on, switched off my alarm since I wouldn't need it, got dressed, threw a pair of sneakers on and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The scent of eggs, bacon and coffee was already wafting its way through the cabin, meaning Dad was up. No matter what time I get up Jack, my dad, is always up and making breakfast, not that I'm complaining mind you. A hearty breakfast waiting for you when you get up is something I look forward to, especially after the dream.

"Morning Co," Jack said as he fixed a plate with generous portions of food, "you're up early son. Another one of those dreams again?"

"It's not a big deal Dad, it's just a dream." I can lie pretty well if I do say so myself, of course the dream creeps me out every time I have it. Still no matter how good a liar I am, dear old Dad can tell.

"Co you know that you can talk to me about this if you need to." Jack said putting a plate in front of me and a hand on my shoulder.

"I know Dad and you'll be the first person I talk to if I need to," I started digging into my eggs showing that I wanted to drop the subject, "but it's just a dream so nothing to worry about."

As always Dad picks up on my oh so subtle hints and we change the subject of our breakfast discussion. If there was a dad of the year contest Jack Streak would definitely get a nomination from me. He is always there for me if I need him and he knows when to give me my space, not a better dad around than that. While we talk I inhale my breakfast and have seconds just as quickly, thanks to my personal wake up call I had a little adrenaline buzz going and I wanted to work it off. Finished with my plate I put it in the sink, "I'm going out for a little exercise Dad." I said as I headed out the door throwing my jacket on. "Ah breathe in that crisp mountain air." I said to myself as I let the cold morning air fill my lungs. I stretched my arms out and unfurled my wings to their full span; oh sorry I forgot to mention the wings.

Well I guess I should say something now so how about this. Hello my name is Cobalt Streak, I'm 16 years old, about 6ft. tall, I have dark blue wings with black tips, one eye and I'm a snappy dresser. Ok I'll admit I'm not really that snappy of a dresser, but the other stuff is true. See I'm an avian human hybrid created by some not so nice scientists, we'll refer to them as whitecoats or just simply jerks. I was created in a place called the School in Colorado, which is kind of funny since I'm still living in Colorado with my dad. Jack Streak, my dad, found me when I was eight in the woods and he's raised me ever since. I used to have some friends like me, but I lost them around the time Dad found me. If you're connecting the dots then yeah the dream has most of its roots from the School days of my life.

Anyway back to the crisp mountain air and the clear blue sky. After stretching out I took off at a run, lifted my wings up and pushed down hard and fast taking off into the air. With a steady beat of my wings I cleared the tree tops and was soon soaring free. Flying is definitely the way to travel and I suppose it really is the only thing that I can thank those jerks at the School for that is if they didn't try to kill me and all.

The Rockies are really a sight to behold, especially from the air. I flew some lazy circles to get myself warmed up and then I went into some real tight flying. Banking, dropping, sharp cuts I went through some of the maneuvers I had learned over the years. I was in the middle of attempting a quick turning barrel roll when a black Hummer caught my eye. It was moving through the woods toward my house, but cars don't usually come to my house. It's a little on the remote side being so far away from lets see civilization and all, but hey teenager with wings does not really fit in well with the civil norm so it works for me.

Dad would have told me if any one was coming up to the cabin today, so I decided to follow our surprise guests and see what they were up to. I angled down and stayed in what I hoped was a blind spot above the Hummer. As they drove further along it looked certain that they were heading to the cabin. From my spot above the Hummer I couldn't tell who or how many people were inside and decided that flying ahead to the cabin would be the best plan. I would warn Dad and then see what he would have to say, because if the Hummer was carrying some unfriendlies then I needed to warn him quick.

I beat my wings as fast as I could and in minutes I was back in my yard running as I hit the ground. I ran into the house and found Dad still sitting at the kitchen table drinking his coffee. He saw the look on my face and put his mug down, "What's wrong Co?"

"There's a Hummer coming toward the house and I don't think their selling Avon."

Dad got up and went to the windows closing the shades and looking outside. "Any idea how many people were inside?"

I shook my head, "I couldn't tell from where I was, but I would have to guess that every seat was taken."

Dad came back and walked into the den, I followed right behind him, and he went right to his gun case. Now I'm not crazy about guns, but Dad was in the army for a long time so he developed a certain fondness for them, of course I never saw him do anything with them except clean them. Now he was loading a hand gun and sliding it into the back of his waist, he looked at me for a minute like he was considering whether to give me one or not. I made the choice for him and walked over to a window to check outside, no way was I going to shoot anything at anyone. I much rather prefer punching their face in, that is if I ever get into a fight of course. A moment later Dad came up and joined me and we watched as the black Hummer came into view.

"Ok Co here's the plan," Dad started and I listened while still looking outside, "I'm going to go out and see if this is really a problem. If whoever is in that vehicle is here to cause a problem then I want to know who we're dealing with."

"Great plan Dad but shouldn't I go out with you, what if these guys are serious trouble?" I shot my Dad a smart grin, "It's not like you're a young recon officer any more you know."

Dad smiled at the joke I made about his age and went to the front door. "I may not be young but I'm still recon trained and your father. So wait here unless I give you a sign that I need help, understand?" Dad gave me one of those parental stares that say "The answer better be yes and you better mean it." So of course I say what he wants to hear and I watch him go out the door. Then I run upstairs, slip out a window and make myself comfortable on the roof while I watch the show down below.

The Hummer was parked in the front yard and just like I thought it was packed because seven men in black suits got out. The driver walked in front of the others as they made their way to our home. Dad stood with his arms crossed and just watched as the men came toward him. Having seen these guys now I could definitely say that they were not selling Avon, not unless Avon was trying a new strong arm approach to selling makeup. About half way between their car and the house the suits stopped, "Well Jack Streak we finally found you. You know that you are a hard person to track down Mr. Streak?" the leader spoke.

Dad kept his composure, "I don't see why anyone would need to track me down, and after all I'm just a military man trying to enjoy his retirement."

The leader sneered and said, "You're much more than that Mr. Streak and I believe you do know why we're here for you. So why don't you come with us peacefully and no one will get hurt."

"I think that I'll have to refuse fellas." Dad said.

The group of men spread out and the leader walked toward Dad again, "Our orders are to bring you in Mr. Streak, but they didn't say in what condition." When he finished talking the leader lunged at Dad and the rest of his group did the same. I was about to jump down and help him when I caught a look from Dad, how he knew I was up on the roof I never knew. The quick glance and shake of his head were signals to stay were I was and wait. Apparently he didn't need my help as I watched him palm strike his first attacker in the face, the guy went down sporting a bloody nose. In the hole that was made from the downed man Dad rushed out as the other six men tried to dog pile him. Two of them got up and dove to tackle Dad, one going high while the other went low. It would have worked if Dad hadn't jumped over the low guy while kicking the other. Of course the guy on the bottom didn't get away unscathed since Dad kind of stomped on him when he landed.

The leader laughed even though half of his goons were taken down by one man. "You really are remarkable Mr. Streak, just like the Director told me. But I'm afraid that we have a job to do so." and to my horror I watched as the three goons still standing began to grow larger, hairier, and more wolfish.

_Oh my god they're Erasers._ The cold thought chilled me as I watched the wolfish features appear on the men's faces. Suddenly the images from the Dream were hitting me even though I was awake; wounded, afraid and alone against the blood thirsty wolves. I think I would have been trapped by the images if the roaring sound of gunfire hadn't shaken me back to reality. Down back on the ground Dad had taken his gun out and had fired off two shots, but the Erasers were faster than him and dodged the shots easily.

Alright appearance of Erasers on the field changes the whole game, as tough as my Dad is he's not tough enough to take on three Erasers by himself. Like the old saying goes 'You have to fight fire with fire' or in this case mutant against mutant. See Erasers are made at the School just like I was, but these monsters are spliced together with lupine DNA and they are nasty pieces of work; note the traumatizing dreams with monster wolves in it and you get my point.

I leapt from the roof, unfurled my wings and crashed down on an unsuspecting Erasers head. "Whoops sorry buddy I forgot to yell Geronimo." Now that I made my grand entrance I leapt at one of the other Erasers with a snap kick, he blocked it and knocked me to the ground in the same motion. Hitting the ground I tucked my wings in and rolled to get some distance between me and the Eraser. I sprang back onto my feet and the Eraser and I began to circle each other.

"Well, well what a surprise we come looking for Mr. Streak and we find a bird freak to play with." The Eraser leader said while he paced in front of me. "I guess we get to have some fun after all."

The Eraser leapt at me claws ready to slash me to ribbons, now I'm stronger than a regular person but Erasers can put me to shame so I went with one of my other strengths. I leapt about eight feet straight up in the air and watched as the Eraser sailed right under me. I turned in the air and flapped my wings so that I was kind of hovering just above him. A gunshot sounded again and I saw Dad doing his best trying to fight the other Eraser.

Dad fired another round but the Eraser dodged again and got too close for comfort. He swiped his claw like hand at Dad who brought up his gun and used it like a shield, twisting the Erasers arm away from him. I took advantage of the Eraser being off balance and dove at him from the air, I tackled him and heard a satisfying crunching sound as we crashed to the ground. Dad rushed over and pulled me back onto my feet then gave me a stern parental look.

"I told you to wait for my signal before jumping in."

Can you believe this he's mad at me for saving his life, typical parental reaction though. "I think the revelation that these goons are Erasers kind of trumps that Dad, besides you don't know what these guys are capable of."

"Don't assume that I don't know what Erasers can do Cobalt, remember never assume anything get the facts before you make a decision." I wasn't listening to the little piece of advice Dad was giving me, I was too focused on the first thing he said. Not only that but he didn't react like a person should when seeing an Eraser morph for the first time, plus they were here for him and not me. Ok it looks like I'm taking Dad's advice to heart after all because I don't have to assume here, all the facts point to Dad having some connection to the School.

"Dad why are the Erasers here for you, what haven't you told me?" I asked and Dad just looked at me for a minute, a kind of look that showed he was ashamed about something. Of course he didn't get a chance to answer because the Eraser I had left howled as he plowed right into me. I forgot how hard these guys hit, the air left my lungs forcibly as I hit the ground.

"Don't worry little birdie this will only hurt for a few minutes." The Eraser on top of me said as he drew back a clenched fist, my guess would be that said fist was going to be connecting with my face.

"I think you better get off my son if you know what's good for you." Dad said as he held his gun right at the Eraser's head. The Eraser stayed like he was for minute, probably trying to figure out if he could dodge a bullet so close to his head, and smirked showing off his sharp teeth.

Some times having special powers can be a curse because I would give anything right now to not have a photographic memory. The moment it happened everything seemed to slow down; the Eraser leader that I thought I knocked out just appeared behind Dad. He roared as he slashed my Dad across the back, blood following his claw in an arch from the wound. Dad turned around, his face was so white, and the Eraser took a second swipe at him leaving a jagged wound across his chest now. The scene was burned in my mind now, but I kept telling myself this wasn't happening.

_It's just a new twisted part of the dream, that's all it is I'm in my bed having a nightmare._ But the truth was I was pinned to the ground watching my Dad, the man who saved me and cared for me, being killed. I couldn't take it anymore, I didn't know where it came from but somehow a surge of strength flooded me and I knocked the Eraser on top of me to the ground. My body moved on it's own as I ran up and struck the pack leader in the face. I hit him again and again, the ferocity of my attack taking him by surprise for a second. I didn't think about anything but wailing on the bastard that had hurt the only family I had left, maybe that's why I didn't see the other Eraser coming at me. He hit me in my ribs and the pain brought me back to myself for a second.

I jumped back from the two Erasers and took in my situation. Ok we have me bruised and battered against two Erasers, Dad is on the ground bleeding profusely, and I'm just a little tweaked out on rage; I think I can work with this. I yelled as I charged the Erasers who were laughing at my little show.

"What's the matter freak, mad that we hurt daddy?" One of the Erasers mocked and I ran faster, letting the anger give me a boost.

Jack Steak's rules of combat say that a surprise attack is an effective attack and that was what I had planned. Running at two Erasers in a rage who could probably tear me limb from limb easily is not the smartest thing to do, lucky for me I wasn't completely in a raging mindset. The Erasers were all ready to fight me head on, but I wasn't so I leapt into the air flipping over the two now slack jawed idiots. I passed over them and when I was behind them I shot both feet out with all my strength and connected with the back of their heads. Since both of them were tensed and ready for a frontal attack the quick strike to their heads sent them flailing to the ground quick. Not wanting to lose my advantage as soon as I landed I ran over to Dad, picked him up and carrying him did a running take off and flew the both of us out of their.

I couldn't carry Dad for long so I took us someplace high up and out of the way. The spot I landed at was a cliff on the mountain side that I sometimes come up to watch the birds fly, it's were I learned a lot of my own aerial tricks. I laid my Dad down and looked over his wounds, I felt sick to my stomach seeing the claw marked gashes across his chest. His breathing was getting shallow and the bleeding wasn't stopping, I took off my shirt, balled it up and used it as a make shift bandage. I put some pressure on the wound and Dad grimaced in pain.

"Co I need to tell you something." Dad said in between deep breaths, his face was losing color quick.

"Don't try to talk Dad, just hold on a little while longer once the Erasers leave we can swoop down and get you some help." I tried to sound brave but I've been down this road before. I've had someone slip away from me and I was afraid that history was about to repeat itself.

Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me close, "Don't have much time, bleeding too much. Just listen." I nodded my head and listened. "Floor safe in the den, use the third combination I showed you. Remember it?"

"16 right, 7 left, 21 right." I remembered the combination like he showed it to me years ago.

"Good boy." Dad let go of my arm and just laid on the ground, his breathing was slowing down. "Co no matter what remember that I love you son." And just like that he was gone.

I couldn't take it anymore I just broke down right there and started to cry, I took off my eye patch and let the tears flow. I hate crying because it hurts when the tears run down where my missing eye should be, but the pain of losing Jack Streak hurt more than anything I could think of. I don't remember how much time passed before I stopped crying, but I did stop and looked out over the horizon. The wind blew icy chills up onto the ledge; I shivered realizing I was standing there bare-chested. I didn't want to put my shirt back on; it was covered in Dad's blood, so I threw my jacket on and zipped it up.

I looked back at my Dad, lying on the ground motionless. I needed to do something, this was murder and the monsters responsible needed to be punished. Dad told me to go to the safe back home; did it have answers to some of the questions rolling around in my brain? Why did the Erasers want Dad and not me? How did Dad know about them, besides from what I told him? Who sent the Erasers? All these questions had to have answers and I hoped that whatever was waiting for me in that safe would give them to me.

I knelt down next to my Dad's body, "I'm going to find out what's going on Dad. I'll get the answers for both of us." I turned and walked to the edge of the cliff, putting my eye patch back on as I went. I looked back one last time before leaping off the edge, snapping open my wings to catch an up draft that lifted me into the sky. I stayed close to the tree tops on my way back to the cabin, in case I need to hide really quickly. As I got closer to the cabin I landed in a tree to scope out the area before I tried to get into my home, a quick scan of the area showed that the Erasers had pulled out and gone. Stealthily I made my way to the cabin's roof and snuck inside through a window.

Now that I was back in the cabin I made my way to my room and quickly packed a few things like clothes, money, IPod, you know the essentials. I threw all of my stuff into a backpack, and then I made my way down to the den. Apparently the Erasers had gone through the cabin because everything was knocked over, things were broken and smashed, it looked like they were looking for something or they were just pissed that they messed up their mission. Luckily though the idiots didn't find the floor safe which was hidden under a Persian rug in the middle of the den. I pulled the rug aside, dialed in the combination and opened the safe. Inside were some files and laptop, which I hastily threw in my backpack, plenty of time to look them over when I was out of there. I made one last stop in the kitchen taking as much food as I could carry bolted back upstairs and out the window I came in through.

I flew back toward the cliff, the thought that I wouldn't see my home again just hitting me as it shrank into the distance. Today was definitely joining my list of worst days ever. I can't believe I could lose so much in such a short span of time; apparently life just doesn't like me for some reason. I let my funky mood linger until I saw the cliff come into sight, at least when I touched down I would get some answers. Yeah but remember about life not liking me well it proved it again because with my raptor vision I spotted something I didn't want to see. The Erasers were all over the cliff and that meant that they had Dad's body, but how did they find the place I was sure that I wasn't followed.

_No time to dwell on it now Cobalt, now you have to find some place else to hide._ Sure telling myself that made me feel loads better, yeah right I wanted to charge right in and bust some heads. But that wouldn't get me any answers and right now answers were what I wanted, so I swallowed my pride and took off in another direction. I flew for half an hour before I found someplace to land and hide out. My new digs was a cave that seemed to have the nicest smelling odor, ah yes I love nature and all its fragrances. I set my backpack down and took out the files and laptop, as well as a can of fruit to snack on.

I opened the laptop; apparently it was in hibernation because the screen came on and prompted me for a password. Wonderful now all I have to do is figure out the password, I hoped I didn't have to read through all these files to find it first though. I was about to start leafing through the files when I noticed that the login screen had a hint icon on it, all right maybe my luck is changing. I clicked the icon and a textbox popped up containing a question.

What is your birthday?

Well ok that's not exactly a brain buster of a password, but I guess it works since the only other person who knows my birthday was Dad. So I typed in Feb. 13, 1989 and the login screen was replaced with the usual desktop screen. Before I could see what exactly was on the laptop a media file began to play and there was Dad looking back at me from the screen.

"Hello Cobalt, if you're watching this then chance is I'm dead." Well I'm amazed; he actually had a plan for something like this happening. "I've made this video with the intention of telling you everything that I have kept hidden from you these last eight years. First it was no accident that I found you in the woods, I was on assignment to find all the escaped experiments and bring them to a place where they would be put into a real life living simulation."

No way, Jack Streak my Dad was involved with the psychos who tortured me for their own twisted ideas on science. This didn't answer my questions it just made more for me to worry about.

"I was a soldier like I told you and I am retired, but I joined a group who worked for some people that needed discreet jobs performed." The video continued. "I was told that the work being conducted was for the betterment of mankind, although I didn't know just what kinds of experiments were being conducted. When I was told to round up some experiments that were allowed to escape I didn't think anything about them, I just followed orders. Then when I arrived at the site you were the first one I found and I could not believe what I saw." Dad covered his eyes on screen and shook his head, "They had sent me to capture a child, which meant that they were experimenting on children. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, there you were beaten and bloody about ready to collapse. I was told that the work we were doing was for the betterment of mankind and this was their result."

"I've done some things that could be considered horrors when I was in the service, but I did them because I was soldier following orders. This however was something I couldn't let stand, so I did what I could and hid you from my employers. Sadly you were the only one I could save Co, your friends were found as planned and turned over to someone to be raised as outlined in the experiment."

I stopped the recording feeling shocked at what I was hearing, my friends were alive. The other avian hybrids that I grew up with in the School weren't dead. I don't know whether to be angry or happy, but I'm feeling both right now. On one hand everything I knew and believed up to now was essentially a lie, but on the other I'm not alone anymore my friends, who are like family to me, are alive somewhere. I started up the video again hoping to find out more about the others.

"The other children have been raised with the knowledge that you are dead, which worked out for them and the people running things. After the children were placed I disappeared with you and set up our home in the Rockies. Cobalt you must understand that I am truly sorry that I could not help your friends, but I raised you so that you could." Dad's tone changed to one I found familiar from when he would teach me something, the tone was stern and serious yet it always had a certain kindness to it.

"The projected life of this experiment was about eight years, in this time the scientists would learn the abilities of your friends so that they could perfect their data. However I have learned that they have finished the experiment and have put the children back into a controlled setting. Co your friends are back in captivity, but the tough part is that they have been separated and placed in different facilities."

Yet another shocker, there's more than one School just what the world needs more of.

"I've prepared dossiers on all the Schools that I believe the children are in because knowing how you are you would just rush in without thinking things through first."

That's not entirely true, I would think a little before rushing in.

"Co I just want you to know that I am sorry for deceiving you for so long. I did what I thought I had to do and I am not ashamed of it." Dad smiled on screen as if he could really see me. "You are the best thing that ever happened in this old man's life and I know that you will do the right things in life. I'm proud of you Co, goodbye."

The video ended and I just sat there, things were streaming through my head and I was trying to make sense of it. What Dad was involved in did upset me but was it really a betrayal? I don't think I'll ever get an answer to that because he was gone and not coming back. All I had now was the files and the knowledge that the others were alive and that alone is enough for me right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright kiddies here's your next chapter with plenty of thrills, fighting and few laughs in the mix. As always with me check my profile page for news. Now read, enjoy and leave a review so that I will have the motivation to write quicker. Disclaimer time.

Maximum Ride is owned by James Patterson. Any new characters you're meeting for the first time they would be mine.

_**Chapter 2**_

I had to hand it to Dad these files he left me were very impressive. They contained a lot of info on the other kids and the locations they were being held in. The first file that I went through was actually a pair of files bound together, after opening them up I realized why. The bound folder contained information on the twins so it made sense that they would keep the files together.

As I looked over the file I felt like I was getting to know the others all over again. The twins, Echo and Trace, were the youngest of us, only ten years old. Their files included pictures that seemed to be up to date, but then I couldn't really tell. The picture of the twins was of them together, sitting in a big chair with goofy smiles on their faces. Man I can't believe how big they had gotten since I last saw them, but then again people do tend to grow over eight years. According to their file they were being held in the same facility, which if there was any good news to this tragedy it's that those two aren't going through this all alone.

The next file I looked at was Nails' file; ladies beware of this heart breaker. The picture of Nails in the file had him posing for the camera. Apparently the shy kid that I used to know had come out of his shell; I guess leaving behind a torture chamber of horrors is really good for a child's development. Who knew? Nails would be about thirteen now if I remember right, and with my memory I think that's a safe bet. According to his file Nails was pretty close to here, but it would still take me a while to reach the School he was being held at.

The last file I went through was Scarlet's, just a year younger than me and always the mother hen of the flock. The picture with her info showed her standing with the other kids out in an enclosed yard. As I leafed through I got a little shocker on where Scarlet was being held, it turns out she's practically right in my own backyard. Scarlet is being held at the School that we all originally came from. How's that for a coincidence the very place we escaped from is where I have to go back to rescue her. Can you say trap boys and girls, I know you can. However what I have on my side is that apparently those crazy kooks don't know that I'm alive and kicking.

At the bottom of all the files there were notes saying to refer to the laptop for more info, which once I actually looked through it more info turned out to be blue prints of the buildings believed to be Schools. Again I am very impressed with Dad's information skills. Not wanting to overload myself I only looked over the building plans for the School that Scarlet was in, I tend to get headaches if I try to memorize too much at once. Once I had scrolled through the plans I packed up my things and did a running take off into the air. When I got high enough I figured that at my current speed it would take me probably about three hours to reach the area where the School was, it's amazing that if I was driving it would take practically twice that long again flying beats anything else hands down. Now that I knew where I was going I suppose I should use the travel time to figure out how to actually break into the School and while I'm at it rescue Scarlet and then beat a hasty retreat. Yeah no pressure at all.

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A cacophony of sounds raced around the small, sealed room. The source of them all lost as the noise bounced off the walls and it was driving Scarlet crazy. The day had started just like every other since she had been thrown back into this hell-hole that she thought she had escaped eight years ago, the whitecoats came and dragged her out of the dog crate they kept her in. It had been months since they captured her along with her flock and just as long since she last saw any of them.

Scarlet at first was crazed with worry, not seeing or knowing what was happening to the others was torture in itself. At first she could fight back and pose some resistance to the Frankenstein wannabes, but as time dragged on her bruised and battered body began to lack the strength. Everyday they took her from the Coup, the area that had housed them all when they first were held here, and brought her out to the labs to run numerous tests on her. Today apparently someone thought it would be a great idea to test her hearing and not the lets take a quick peek with a little lens, no this was lets stick the little mutant in a room and blast her with as much noise as we can.

Before the test began the whitecoats had told her to locate the source of each sound that they were going to play in the room, what they didn't say was that they were going to play about twenty different noises all at once. As the noise started the slightest sound already sounded like normal to Scarlet, Nails always joke that Superman had nothing on her ears. _Nails_, just the thought of him sent her mind racing with what was happening to her little brother. _Is he safe? Are the twins? How am I going to save them?_ The questions pounded in her head as the noise pounded in her ears. She cringed on the floor where they had set her; she felt like screaming but didn't want to give the whitecoats the satisfaction of seeing her suffer.

Somewhere she heard a voice remind her to point out the source of the sounds she was hearing. She decided to indulge them and started pointing at spots on the wall, of course each time she did she used only her middle finger. That didn't seem to make the whitecoats happy Scarlet figured since the already ear splitting noise grew in volume. She covered her ears and looked up to the camera that was watching her in the room, swearing that she was going to stick a pair of headphones in whoever was doing this to her and see how they liked going deaf. The thought made her smile just as she blacked out.

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I had actually made good time getting to where I thought the School was located. When I saw a familiar evil looking building, that's right buildings can look evil, I knew I hit the jackpot. I landed in a tree and quickly ducked down so that I was hiding among the branches. From my vantage point I could see a good deal like the perimeter fence and guards moving about. The fence wasn't really a problem because you know they haven't made the fence that I can't get over, no the problem was the guards.

When I was an esteemed guest of the School's the guards were Erasers and if things haven't changed very much then I can guess that all the guys in trench coats wandering around are Erasers. Of course the ones out here can't be the only Erasers they have; there have to be some inside as well. The best way to do this would be to find a way past these losers and then move through the School without interference. Only question is how?

Taking into account my supplies I don't have anything that could help, unless of course I set up my IPod to stun the Erasers into submission with my greatest hits. _Come on Cobalt think, use that brain of yours._ Ok then if I don't have anything to work with then I'll just have to pick something up. I sat down on my branch and closed my eyes, _Alright what have I seen that I can use._ Just like that images are flying through my head of everything I had just seen, it's kind of like watching a movie in an editing room. Each scene moves and I can focus on the particular ones that I want. Focusing on the images I see that the guards are all wearing practically the same thing, long heavy trench coats.

From the look of them it would be easy to walk around unnoticed if I was wearing one of those, my wings could tuck in and be easily hidden under the coat. _Alright I've got the makings of a plan but it needs something more._ I start going through my memory again, this time seeing a guard going into the building. It looks like he swiped a card to get through the door, guess I'll have to get one of those too. Well as far as plans go I think this might work, now all I have to do is wait for dark so I can sneak in a bit more easily.

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Scarlet sometimes wondered if they only stopped the experiments on her for the day just so that whitecoats could take the night to think up even more excruciating ways to mess with her. When she had woken up she had found herself back in the Coup, a pair of Erasers dragging her limp body back to her dog crate. They threw her in and made some idiotic remarks that they thought were funny, just like they did every day. As they were leaving a lady whitecoat came in to deliver her dinner, if a few protein bars and a bottle of water could be called dinner. After that she would be left alone until they wanted to test her again.

The Coup had no windows and only the one door, its size was big enough to house numerous people and at one point it did. Scarlet remembered when she was younger and trapped here, the place was filled with crates like hers all containing a mutant child of some kind. She could remember seeing the whitecoats come in and take children and never bring them back. She could remember thinking that every time they came for one of the flock she would never see them again. Then every time that they would come back she couldn't decide whether she should be happy or sad that they came back in the state they were in. At those times she thought of the one member of her flock that she had actually lost.

_Cobalt_, she remembered that for some reason the whitecoats would always seem to take him more than the rest of them. It was probably because the oldest of them was always so beat up that she stepped up to try and care for the younger kids as best she could. Then they had escaped thinking that things were going to get better only to have a part of them all torn out as Cobalt disappeared from their lives. Scarlet pushed herself to be strong after that for the sake of the others; they needed to know that they would always have a strong center in their lives that they could depend on.

Now however that center was torn from them just as she felt torn from them. Here she was back in this damn dog crate while the others were off God knows where. She had promised them that entire she would watch out for them no matter what, sitting here now feeling sorry for herself was just the opposite of that. _This is it; next time some one comes in here I'm…_ Scarlet's thoughts were interrupted as her delicate ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming toward the Coup.

No one ever comes around at night, not even to check up on her, so why was someone heading this way now. As Scarlet listened more intently she could tell that it wasn't an Eraser because the footsteps were to light to be one of those lumbering morons. These steps were light and it sounded like the person was wearing sneakers because of an occasional squeak when a foot came down. A moment later the door opened and Scarlet could see a tall figure walking in the door way. He was wearing one of those coats that she had seen the Erasers wear all the time.

_Looks like a guard, but doesn't sound like an Eraser._ Scarlet thought as she sized the person up. _This just might be my chance; all I have to do is…_ The person in the trench coat made his way across the Coup and came to Scarlet's dog crate. Scarlet tensed herself deciding now would be here best chance to escape; whoever this idiot was there was no way that he could…

"Hey Red long time no see." The guy in front of her said as he leaned down so she could see his face. Her breath caught in her chest as she looked into the face of a ghost.

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The sun had set and I was lucky enough that the moon wasn't full tonight, so there was not enough light out for someone to really spot me when I made my move. I had spent the time waiting for night sitting in my tree watching the guards patrol patterns and chowing down on some power bars. With the cover of night I made my way to the ground and raced toward the fence. As I neared the School I noticed that my skin was breaking out in goose bumps and I was starting to sweat a lot too, I guess no matter what this place still has an effect on me.

_No time for this psycho-drama stuff now, get your head in the game Cobalt._ I psyched myself up trying to dismiss the dread I was feeling just being near this place. Nearing the fence I stopped and hid in some bush making sure that no guards were around the immediate area. When I was sure there were none around I made my move. Running as fast as I could, which is pretty darn fast, I closed the distance between myself and the fence in no time. Then I leapt into the air easily clearing the fence, I stretched out my wings to soften my fall so that when I landed I barely made any noise at all. Next was the hard part, finding, getting close to and knocking out one of the guards without the others getting wise to me.

I stalked around some corners keeping close to the walls and shadows. My dark clothes and wings easily helping me blend with the dark night. After a few minutes of searching I found a guard on his own, I waited for another couple of minutes just to be safe in case someone was around but no one showed. Chances on this guy being an Eraser were high so I needed to hit him hard and fast, again I shot out from my hiding place running as fast as possible. The guard turned, he must have heard me coming, and as I feared I watched as he started to morph. I couldn't take the chance of him finishing and sounding an alarm, so I jumped forward snapping my wings open and I shot right at the guard. Just call me the human-avian bullet because I plowed right into the Eraser before he finished morphing. From his guffaw I take it I surprised him with my little maneuver, good I would hate to be predictable on my first rescue attempt.

Now that I had a knocked out guard I realized I needed some place to hide him while I made off with his coat and ID card. Details, details, why are they always so oblivious to you until you actually make a move? Quick thinker that I am I stashed the guard in a nice dark corner, hoping that he wouldn't be found until me and Scarlet were gone like the wind. Hey I just realized what a good pun that was. Anyway back on track here, I threw on the trench coat and made my way to the closest door.

The door I found myself at had a grey panel next to it; I'm guessing this is where the card comes in. I waved the card in front of the panel, but nothing happened. _Oh great it must be the wrong card, now what am I going to do?_ I thought as I turned the card around in my hand looking at it. As I was doing that I heard a beep and the door opened in front of me. Out walked two other guards who were apparently surprised to see me as much as I was them. Oh well no choice now looks like things are about to get loud. I was about to lay into them when one of them spoke up.

"Must be in a rush to get off duty if you're hanging around waiting for us to get out?"

You have got to be kidding me, they actually thought I was a real guard; maybe the eye patch gives me a tough guy look. Who cares I'll go with this. "You know how it is when it's close to quitting time." I made my voice sound a little more gravelly than usual when I talked with them, hey got to play the part right.

"I hear ya buddy," the other one said, "well you're relieved for now go grab some grub you look like you could use it."

"Maybe I will thanks." I made my way past them tucking my wings in so much that they hurt. As the door closed I heard one of them say something about never seeing an Eraser that small before, if I'm lucky they won't realize how stupid they are until I'm gone. Inside now I quickly took in my surroundings, mostly empty halls with only a few people walking around. I calmly took a deep breath and started making my way through the School, from what I could see I quickly remembered how to make my way to the Coup from here. I kept my head down and avoided making eye contact with anyone I got close to, if they could look me in the eye I'm pretty sure they could see how much I was freaking out.

After a few of the longest minutes in my life I found myself at the entrance to the Coup, the place of my nightmares. The quicker I grabbed Scarlet and got out of here the better for both of us. I opened the door and not realizing it took in a quick breath, the sight of all those dog crates stirred up some things best left unstirred. A quick scan showed that only one of the crates was occupied, so I made my way toward that one. I could already tell it was Scarlet's because of the red hair I could see through the grates on the crate.

"Hey Red long time no see." I said when I saw her as I opened the door to her crate. The look on her face was a mix of joy, confusion and skeptic, obviously me being dead to her for about eight years would cause all these emotions at once. The initial shock over I took her hand and helped her out of the small dog crate. Now that I could see all of her I felt a both ashamed and angry, mainly at myself. Why you ask, because if I had been around for the others I could probably have prevented this from happening. Scarlet was dressed in a dirty paper gown, bruise marks from god knows what spotted her body and her wings were strapped down by some kind of harness.

I moved closer to get a better look at the thing on her wings but Scarlet gave me a quick shove and backed up looking ready to fight. Stumbling backward I held up my hands showing that I wasn't going to do anything.

"Who are you? Why are you letting me out?" Scarlet asked as her eyes scanned the room, probably trying to come up with an escape plan of her own.

"Easy Red just take it easy, it's me Cobalt. I'm here to get you out."

Just as surprisingly as when she pushed me she started to laugh at me. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe that a person who's been dead for eight years is coming to my rescue, get serious? This is probably another insane test your whitecoat buddies are running. What need to know how I interact with others well? Here let me show you."

Scarlet surged forward with a punch aimed for my head. If she wasn't malnourished and weak she probably would have given me a black eye. I dodged to the side and grabbed her from behind holding her in a restraining move so that she couldn't hurt me or herself. "Scarlet will you calm down," I said while she struggled in my arms, "it's really me. What do I have to do to prove it to you?"

She stopped struggling in my arms and told me, "Take off your eye patch."

I let go of her and she turned around to face me, waiting for me to show off my empty socket that I hate showing to other people. "Can it be something else; you know I don't like people looking at it."

She jabbed a finger in my chest, "Take it off, that's the only way I can believe you're who you say you are."

Gah she is just as stubborn as I remembered, I kicked at the floor and grudgingly agreed. I reached up to take it off and was about to lift it off when she put her hand over it and held the patch there. Ok now she is really confusing me here, first she pushes me, then laughs at me, then tries to attack me, now she's smiling at me shaking her head.

"What think of some other humiliating way of me proving who I am, maybe check my birthmark or something."

Her hand drifted away from my eye so that she could wrap me in a hug, "That stupid way you act about your eye, no one could fake that. It's really you." She squeezed a little harder and I returned the hug, although not as hard. You know us guys aren't for all that touchy feely stuff, right? Ok can't fool you guys, it was really great to be back with one of my best friends.

After the hugging and mushy stuff we quickly got into escape mode. I undid the harness that was wrapped around Scarlet's wings, when they were free she stretched them out to their full length. She turned to look at each of them; the black and white feathers looked a little ruffled. "Can you fly?" I asked.

"Just show me that open sky and I'll show you whether I can fly or not." Scarlet said getting some confidence back. "So what's the plan for getting out of here?"

"Well basically we just have to go back the way I came and not get caught. Simple as that."

"You didn't think this far ahead did you Blue?"

"There may be some parts of the plan that are hazy but I have the utmost confidence we can get out of here undetected." I should really learn to keep my big mouth shut, not even ten seconds past from when I stopped talking than an alarm started blaring in the building. Scarlet shot me a look practically screaming "What did you do?" but she was kind enough not to really ask. I shrugged off the trench coat and unfurled my own wings, no point in having a disguise when your covers blown. The two of us stood by the door listening for anyone on the other side. Scarlet shook her head and I bolted out of the Coup with Scarlet right behind me.

With Scarlet not at full strength I paced myself so she could keep up with me. We did good for a minute or two, then we ran into three guards starting to morph into Erasers. Not even stopping to lay a snappy one liner I jump kicked the closest Eraser hitting him nicely upside the head. The other two pounced on me so fast that I was smelling their awful dog breath. "Jeez guys ever hear of Tic-Tacs?" Ok so maybe I threw out one snappy one liner, so sue me.

Pinned down I struggled to get free from the two hulking beasts on top of me, Scarlet helped me out by lessening my load when she landed that solid punch she tried on me earlier. The Eraser she hit head snapped back, it growled and went after her. With the extra weight off me I arched my back and flipped the Eraser still on me over my head. I quickly sprung to my feet and saw Scarlet ducking and weaving between her Eraser's punches. When she ducked after one punch it looked like she slipped losing her balance. The Eraser took advantage of that and moved in to sink his teeth into her. I started toward them but stopped when I saw Scarlet fall back on purpose raising her leg to kick the lunging Eraser right under its jaw. Ouch that had too hurt.

"Come on lets go." I yelled and we took off running again. Turning corners and bursting through doors we finally came to the door I had come in through. Scarlet listened at it checking to see what she could hear waiting for us.

"I hear a lot of people running around," she reported, "some are barking orders and standing around. It sounds like chaos out there."

"Hmm guess they found the guard I knocked out before getting in." I mused to myself and wincing when Scarlet gave me an incredulous look, note to self watch what you say within hearing distance of Scarlet.

"So Blue what now?" Scarlet's tone was a little skeptical when she asked.

"I was thinking mad dash out the door then up we go any problems with that idea?"

She put her hands on her waist and humphed, "Besides the fact that there are guards and Erasers running around waiting to kill us no not at all."

"Just wait a few seconds after I go through and then get your rear into the air." I crouched at the door closing my eye. Scarlet began to protest me acting as a decoy but I tuned her out as I went through the landscape beyond the door in my mind. Before I came in there was a sort of alley a few yards from the door, if I was coming out it would be on the right. I only glanced it but it looked good enough for someone to do a running take off without worrying about interference. My eye snapped open and I told Scarlet what she had to do. "When I give you the signal run a few yards and on the right is an alley that you can take off from. Don't hesitate and don't wait for me, just run and fly. Got it?"

Scarlet started to protest again but I just held up my hand, "Got it?" I said a little more sternly. Again she humphed and nodded her head, a small grin worked the corner of my mouth as I turned back to the door. I held up three fingers and started counting down; on one I burst through the door and took in the yard. Lights shown down and illuminated all the dark crevasses I had used to sneak around and running around armed were a lot more Erasers than I ever wanted to see, but the path to the alley looked clear.

"Go!" I yelled and did the insane decoy bit of dashing toward the group of Erasers. I chanced a quick look back and saw Scarlet run right into the alley. A minute later I could see a silhouette of her fly up into the night sky. Alright mission accomplished now all I have to do is save my self.

"Hey you walking fur balls." I heard Scarlet's voice yell from above, what the hell was that girl doing she was supposed to get away. I craned my head up to yell at her and I saw something that made me trip right over my feet. The shock was so great that even the Erasers stopped, not believing what they were seeing. "Cobalt you idiot take off already."

Right take off, fly I can do that; I just need to get the image out of my head for a second. The fact that Erasers were practically right on top of me was enough to clear my head for a second, I jumped up as high as I could unfurled my fifteen foot wings and beat down then up in a steady rhythm until I was soaring high beside Scarlet. Once the two of us were in the air we tore out of there quick as we could. I passed by my little stake out tree, grabbed my backpack and motioned for Scarlet to follow me. A few minutes later the School was a distant image behind us as we cruised about a thousand feet high, the cool night air blowing in our faces.

I angled closer to Scarlet, just in case she couldn't hear me over the wind, "So about _your_ little diversionary tactic."

Her cheeks flushed red and it wasn't because of the wind. "If you ever and I mean ever tell anyone what I did I swear I will rip out your other eye."

"Ok, ok psycho, I promise not to tell anyone." She nodded when I gave my word, "I just didn't know you had a birthmark there?" I said and then flew as fast as I could with Scarlet screaming at me from behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Well it has been an extremely long time since I've updated so here we go with chap. 3. I hope you all enjoy and leave a review after you finished, remember reviews bad or good don't matter just that I hear what you think is all I need. Alrighty now enjoy.

Maximum Ride is owned by James Patterson. Cobalt Streak is owned by DuskW.

_**Chapter 3**_

It had been a few hours since we had escaped from the School and I was desperately looking for some place for the two of us to crash. Scarlet seemed to be doing all right but from the way she looked it was obvious she needed to rest as soon as possible. We were somewhere near the state border when I spotted a house that was isolated enough for my taste. I motioned that we were going to land, dipped my wings and started returning to the ground.

The house seemed to be some type of vacation home and from the look of it vacation season was over. I studied the area carefully taking in as many details I could in case someone tried to ambush us. Scarlet came up next to me and nodded toward the house; she didn't hear anyone around except us and whatever little woodland creatures were around.

"Ok wait here and I'll go make sure it's safe." I told her and began to move toward the house. About half way from the tree line I heard Scarlet come up behind me.

"Please like I'm going to let you act the hero and me the damsel in distress, grow up Cobalt." She said and walked right past me.

Ugh girls try to be nice and they think you're demeaning them, any way our little battle of the sexes not withstanding after peering through the windows it was official, the house was empty. At the front door I took out a little plastic card I had and jimmied the lock open, not something I'm proud to do but necessity wins out over decency. I opened the door and stepped inside checking out the interior. The house wasn't big but it had a kitchen and that was the only real thing that I was looking for right now, Scarlet had already devoured what little food I had packed and after flying for most the day and fighting off Erasers I was starving. I threw my bag onto the couch and made a beeline to the kitchen, Scarlet moved to the back of the house saying she wanted to find a shower. On my own hunting for food I found some decent grub, canned raviolis, cereal, some instant noodles, a few bags of chips and pretzels and even a few pop tarts were in the cupboards. The fridge offered up plenty as well but most of what was there was close to spoiling, still a few deli packs were salvageable filled with turkey, ham and cheese but the milk was definitely a no; unless someone out there likes there milk in chunky. I packed up what we could take and started eating what we couldn't.

"Hey Blue can I borrow some clothes?" Scarlet asked as I was fixing myself a sandwich. I guess I should have thought she would ask at some point, who wants to go walking around in a paper gown all the time. A quick rummaging in my bag later and I produced a T-shirt and jeans for Scarlet to throw on; I put them out in front of the bathroom and returned to my sandwich. By the time she came out I had already started on a can of raviolis after inhaling the sandwich. She looked a little better now that she wasn't dirty and actually dressed in real clothes. My clothes though were a little too big for her I noticed as she fastened a belt around her waste. I tried to suppress a smile at the shirt I had given her and she obviously wasn't too happy about it.

"Did you really have to give me a T-shirt that has a winged monkey on it?"

I offered her the rest of the can and said, "Come on Red it's the Wizard of Oz who doesn't think that's cool." She took the can without a thank you and took a seat at the kitchen table; I took a seat opposite her and bit into an apple I found in the fridge. We ate quickly and didn't really say anything, well Scarlet did after she found a pint of Chunky Monkey (yeah I laughed at the irony too) in the freezer that she ate herself. When the food was gone each of us found a comfortable place in the little living room and collapsed.

I had just gotten the recliner I was sitting in to go back when Scarlet asked, "Where have you been all this time Cobalt?"

I was expecting a few questions to come up when I reunited with my friends, but I didn't really have an idea of what I should say yet. The truth of course but how would they take it if they knew that I was being raised by someone who probably handed them over to the undercover whitecoats that they had lived with for the last eight years. Even though Dad was a good guy I just didn't know what the others thought about him, so I said the only thing I could think of to buy myself some time. "It's a really long story Scarlet and it would probably be better if I told it after we've gotten the others."

When I mentioned getting the others Scarlet bolted up right on the couch she was lying on, "You know where Nails and the twins are?" I nodded my head. "Then what are we wasting time here for, we have to get out there and rescue them now." She was already up and making her way to the door, but she still hadn't recovered enough that I couldn't grab her arm stopping her.

"Do you really think that you can do anything the way you are now? You need to rest and recover after what you've just been through." Scarlet was shaking in my grasp, I completely understood her feelings but I couldn't just let her go out like she was. "We're going to spend the night here then we'll head for the place their keeping Nails at tomorrow." She turned around at the mention of her brother and I saw the concern she was feeling clearly on her face. "Trust me on this Scarlet we're going to save them no matter what it takes." I let go of her arm then and moved back to the recliner. The chair shifted and I was lying back looking up at the ceiling, a few hours of sleep and then we were off to get another member of our Flock.

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The fluorescent lights illuminated the dim hallway as a group of scientists made their way through. The man in the lead was listening to one of his subordinates give him a status report on the new Eraser series the Director had requested be commissioned for dealing with Batchelder's wayward experiments.

"Of course sir they are still at least months away from being fully combat ready but the prototypes of the third series are showing excellent results." The scientist said as he glanced at the data on his clipboard.

"I want to see the next round of testing done in person," the man in the lead said, "otherwise I won't get a feel for what improvements we can make."

"Yes sir I will have a schedule of the testing phases on your desk in an hour."

The group turned a corner and walked into a room prepared as an operating theater. The leader took a seat so he could watch the operation about to start below. The surgical team acknowledged the man with a respectful nod and began the operation. As the first incision was being made the man turned to the woman at his side, "The recent report from our Colorado branch states that an experiment escaped." The woman nodded confirming the report and the man continued, "Do we know which experiment it was?"

"Yes sir it was one of the avian hybrid prototypes that we had just recollected from the field study." The woman said glancing back to the surgical table when the body on it twitched.

"My dear focus on our conversation and do not worry about the subject below." The man said regaining the woman's attention. "I want the security feeds for the time the escape occurred and any reports on the incident."

"Yes sir." Was all the women said.

"Good," the man himself now focused on the operation, "I hate it when my experiments try to work outside their designated guidelines."

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Having lived in an cabin cut off from society most of my life I found it easy to identify the noise of a vehicle approaching where I'm sleeping, the car that had just pulled up jolted me awake as soon as I heard its engine. I don't know if Scarlet had a similar experience where she was but I'm guessing her hearing picked the engine noise up before I did because she was already up and moving to the back of the house. I grabbed my backpack and followed her out a window just as the owner of the car was putting their key into the front door. Back outside we hurried to the tree line and disappeared into the woods, when we were far enough away we unfurled our wings and took off back into the sky. I breathed in the crisp morning air and felt the exhilarating freedom of flying, my wings working in that steady rhythm of up and down. Scarlet dropped back to fly next to me so we could talk.

"So Cobalt where exactly are we heading, 'cause I would really like to pick up my little brother and the twins."

"We're heading for Phoenix, Nails is apparently being kept in a School there." I said loudly talking over the wind whipping past us. Scarlet gave me a look that practically screamed where are you getting your info from but I had already said I wouldn't say anything until we rescued the others so she'll just have to keep on giving me looks until then.

The time it was going to take us to reach Phoenix by flying was at least another four to five hours depending on the wind so I was already figuring at least one more pit stop along the way. After that we would have to do a little recon on the building before making any kind of move at all. This wasn't going to be like sneaking in at the School in Colorado, according to the notes Dad left the Phoenix location had a cover of being a pharmaceutical company; not exactly some place where I could just crash through a window and fight my way through.

Rescuing Nails was going to require a little more finesses and now I had someone to help me plan out my rescue mission, I just hope that Scarlet and I can come up with something that will actually work.

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Dr. Howard Reichter had returned to his office after the surgery had concluded, the results of which were excellent for his further plans. He sat at his desk and was pleased to see that the testing schedule for the Eraser third series was already waiting for him, along with a note saying that the video footage from the Colorado facility was waiting on his hard drive. Reichter booted up his computer and found the media files in a new folder marked Col.Schl.

The files covered all the video footage of the day when the experiment escaped. Of course he personally did not have to go over the footage but he found it annoying to be told what he could learn for himself. According to the reports the experiment escaped in the late evening so Reichter decided to begin viewing the footage from the early after noon. He had started with the external feed cameras, the most likely scenario was that the experiment did not escape on its own but had assistance from an outside source.

An hour passed and the video footage had shown nothing of interest so far, Dr. Reichter found it interesting that whoever had broken the experiment out was either foolish or intelligent enough to invade the School after dark. Sure enough Dr. Reichter found what he was looking for in the late evening recordings. He watched as someone came over the fence and moved through the shadows toward the least secure entrance. Reichter watched transfixed at the figure's movements, the way this person was moving was impossible for a regular human. The only logical explanation was that it was one of the organization's mutants, but he had knowledge of every experiment created.

_Could ter Borcht have created some new subjects? _Reichter thought as he watched the figure now enter the School. _No I would have learned about any new creations. _He played back the footage again, _Curious how this figure moves though, from its movements I would have to believe it is an avian-hybrid._ The way the figure shot toward the Eraser could only be possible if the intruder moved through the air at speeds impossible for the human body to perform unassisted.

Reichter began to view the internal footage; again he was impressed with the intruder as it managed to avoid detection from the security cameras. He watched as the intruder entered what the facility's staff called the Coup, _Ridiculous to give a name to a simple holding unit,_ and then watched as the experiment and intruder both back tracked to the exit. When the alarm finally triggered Dr. Reichter got his first clear look at the intruder. His hypothesis was right, the intruder was an avian-hybrid experiment but not one he was familiar with. The plumage of the intruder's wings was dark blue streaked with black making it seem to shiver from one color to the other as the wings moved. What he needed was a look at the intruder's face, so Reichter moved ahead to when the two would come out of the facility.

When the intruder finally burst through the door Reichter froze the screen and looked at the intruder closely. _Impossible._ He thought and closed in on the intruder's face, for the intruder could not be who he thought it was. With the intruder's face enlarged on the screen Dr. Howard Reichert looked at the intruder's eyes, or more accurately the intruder's eye. That deep blue color that matched the wings so well which he remembered so perfectly. _Oh Jack you truly are a surprising character._

Reichter began to type, calling up other files that he had to revise and update. He noticed how interested he was again because of this predicament and smiled as he saw his own plans could be enhanced because of it. Dr. Reichter pressed a switch on the phone on his desk; a few minutes later his assistant's voice asked if he needed anything.

"Yes my dear I believe I will be needing a few samples brought out of cold storage and some processing tanks prepared. Also I would like a pot of tea brewed, use the peppermint leaves if you would be so kind."

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After leaving the vacation home we flew for few hours before stopping at a drive-in to fuel up. The girl at the counter was really surprised when we ordered almost a dozen burgers each and a mess of fries. Trays loaded up we took a seat at a table outside, since we had to hold our wings in after flying they were warm from the excursion so it felt good to be out in the cold. As I bit into my first burger I noticed Scarlet checking the surrounding area. The tension she was emitting brought on more stares than I would have liked.

"I doubt that they have any idea who got you out yet Red so the whitecoats probably don't have any way of finding us yet. Relax a little and eat up."

She huffed and relaxed a little, though if you looked closely you could tell she was still on guard. "So do we have a plan yet for when we get to Phoenix or are we going to wing it?"

"I have done a little thinking about that and figure we need to find some way into the building that Nails is being held in." I took a sip of my soda enjoying the combined chill from it and the cool air. "Also I think we need to stock up on some supplies before we do anything that will cause us to lay low."

Scarlet stopped in mid-chew, "What exactly do we need to get that we can't get later?"

"Clothes for one thing Red," I pointed to my shirt she was wearing, "unless of course you think all of you can wear my clothes."

She looked down at the winged monkey and agreed with the idea of not wearing any more of my clothes, although I think it had to do more with my sense of style than necessity with her (again I don't get why she didn't think the winged monkey was cool). "So clothes are one thing but what other supplies do we need?" She nodded to a frie in her hand. "Obviously food but other than that what else could you need?"

"Nothing special really just small odds and ends." I bit into my last burger and ran through a list in my head again of what we were going to need.

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We didn't arrive in Phoenix until after dark so Scarlet and I camped out in a park to rest for the night. Scarlet thought that we should at least go do some recon on the building but it would have looked a little odd for two kids to be wandering around at night in a city's business district, so I told her that it would have to wait till tomorrow.

The next morning we hoofed it over to the area of the city where the building was located. Stellah Corp was the cover that the whitecoats were using; apparently they were one of the biggest resources that Phoenix had for jobs. The building was huge like any skyscraper but what concerned me was the traffic going in and out of the building. A place like that would have all sorts of security inside and probably out.

"This might be a little bit more difficult than I originally thought." I said as we walked past Stellah Corp. Even though we were only doing recon I didn't want to get close to the place, if they had cameras outside then Scarlet and I would stand out to anyone looking for us.

"Well you're the one who apparently has the big brain," Scarlet said mockingly, "so I'm sure we can work something out."

"True but I think the first thing is to get those supplies I was talking about first, give me some time to use that big brain of mine." I caught Scarlet giving me a sly glance and smirked as we turned of the street down another, I forgot how fun it was to mess around with her.

A couple of blocks later we came to a clothing store that sold hand me down and donated clothing, just the thing for the bird kid on a severely tight budget. While Scarlet was trying on clothes I was lost in my own thoughts going over the brief glimpses I caught at Stellah Corp. The entrance was completely open to the public view with glass windows around the front. A desk was situated in the middle of the lobby and it was manned with two security guards and it looked like there were a few cameras panning across the lobby as well. Of course the obvious security wouldn't prove to be a problem for Scarlet and myself, it was the security that wasn't obvious that worried me. If there was a secret lab in the building then you could bet that there would be some mondo security measures in place to keep it secret. I just need a chance to get inside without drawing attention to myself but how could I possibly get in like that?

"Hey I asked you for an opinion Blue." I almost jumped when Scarlet got in my face.

"Sorry what did you say?"

Scarlet backed up and motioned for me to check out her ensemble, "I asked what do you think?" She had changed out of my jeans and shirt and was now sporting a red skirt with a black stripe going down the side over a pair of black pants, a new white t-shirt with a black shaped bird symbol in the lower corner, making the bird look like it had swooped down from the top and a black hooded jacket to cover up her wings.

"Looks good, but I don't know about the skirt."

She planted her hands on her waist and shot me a mean look, "Even I like to wear girly things once in a while Cobalt, besides it goes with the look."

"Ok, ok, but what about shoes?" I pointed to her feet which were only covered by socks at this point. She returned my pointing with some pointing of her own, namely pointing at a pair of red Converses that were not too worn out. "Ok now that you're all taken care of how about we pick out some things for the other kids."

"Alright I know their sizes so this shouldn't take too long." Scarlet told me what sizes to look for and after another half hour we had clothes for the others, three new back packs and even less cash than before. With our shopping done we went back to Stellah Corp and sat across the street watching people come and go like it was regular business instead of a mad house of scientific horror.

"So that big brain of yours think of anything yet?" Scarlet asked as a group of businessmen walked out and mixed into the pedestrian herd.

"All I can think of is wanting to get inside and take a look around. How about you, anything thoughts from the peanut gallery?"

She hit my arm at the comment then sullenly said she didn't have any ideas either. I leant my head back and gazed up at the sky thinking as I watched the clouds go by. All the ideas I was getting to go in involved breaking into the building, but that was only an option for when we were actually going to rescues Nails. If only we could go in and look around without drawing attention to ourselves but I just can't think of a way to do that.

Another smack on my arm snapped me out of my thoughts, I sat up quickly and looked over to Scarlet, "Is there a reason you keep hitting me I'm trying to think of way to…"

"Get in right, well its right there." Scarlet pointed across the street and I saw what she meant and grinned at our way in. In the lobby right now was a group of people holding cameras and they were all listening intently to a woman dressed in a business suit who was pointing out various things as she talked, the building had guided tours.

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An hour later we were being led around the building by a woman who tried to make the ordinary mundane business practices of a pharmaceutical company sound like a thrilling experience. Scarlet and myself however were more interested in memorizing as much of the buildings interior as we could. After the tour was finished we were taken back to the lobby and offered the chance to stop by a gift shop to remember the trip, like these people really need to sell crappy little key chains when their making millions off of medicine. While the rest of our tour group was perusing the gift shop I was looking over a department directory, of course it was too much to ask that it list what floor evil genetic experiments were on, but it did show that there were sublevels that we didn't even get to see on the tour.

I asked the guide about them and she said that was where the research and development department was located. "It's not on the tour because we do some of our most sensitive work on those levels, but if you're interested we have some brochures in the gift shop that should interest you." She said with a smile, obviously hoping that I would spend some money and not bother her any more. With nothing more to learn we left and made our way back to the park where we spent the night.

"So I guess those sublevels are where the whitecoats do their mad science." Scarlet said

I shook my head disagreeing, "No those floors are probably just what the guide said they were, but that doesn't mean that those are the only floors under that building." A chilly breeze blew through the park and I zipped my jacket up against the slight cold. "We'll go in tonight and make our way down into the sublevels; hopefully we can find Nails quick enough before we're found."

"You sound like you expect us to get caught." Scarlet said as she leapt freely into the air and disappearing into a tree.

I followed her up and settled into a crook in the branches, "Actually I'm planning on it."

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When the moon was high in the night sky we took off from our tree and rose into the air. It felt good to be back in the air again even if it was for just a little while. We had spent the time waiting for night fall going over the plan that I had come up with after our little guided tour. Scarlet finally seemed to ease up when we were talking about doing something, but now that we were moving she seemed to tense up again. No matter how much I would tell her to relax I don't think she would listen to me, after all I'm kind of feeling the same way. Never let it be said that my nerves are made of steel, but it's putting the negative thoughts to the side that matters with courage right?

Flying it took no time to finally be back at the Stellah Corp building; we landed on the roof and quickly went to the roof access to get in the building. Scarlet turned to knob and turned back at me shaking her head, the door was locked.

"Not a problem." I said and walked over taking a small wrapped package out of my pocket. I crouched down and began examining the lock, then I took my tools and set to work.

Scarlet crouched down next to me and watched, "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yup learned to pick simple locks a while ago." I said as I moved one of my picks catching a tumbler.

"You seem to be good at it, so who taught you?" She asked and I could tell she was hoping to catch me with my guard down to learn about my eight years separate from the rest of the Flock, but I'm not so easily distracted.

"You'll find out when with the others." Scarlet kind of pouted when her little interrogation trick failed, but her face shifted back to serious when I turned the knob to the now open door. I stowed my picks back in my pocket and peeked around the corner of the door, an empty stairwell leading down was all I could see. We slipped in and started making are way down quickly and quietly. Fifteen floors down we came to the fifth floor and just the place I wanted to be. Again I checked around the door and saw no one in the immediate area, Scarlet gave me the thumbs up; she couldn't hear anyone around near either. We moved onto the floor and stuck close to the walls hoping that no one would suddenly spring out from a door in the hallway.

We had to stop a few times and wait to slip under a camera as it panned across the hall. The trick of moving under the camera was tricky since we had to dash across the hall to get under it first. After what felt like hours, which actually was twenty minutes, I slipped inside the office I was looking for with Scarlet close behind me. Scarlet kept close to the door keeping watch and I started to go through filing cabinets and drawers. When we were here earlier neither of us saw any way down into the sub-levels where Nails could be held, so I looked for a way to find out. The building listing was really helpful showing me where their maintenance department was located, and that was the office we were in now.

Searching through the documents and plans I found the buildings ventilation schematic, just the thing you need if you want to find where people are breathing in a secret lab. Just as I was about to show Scarlet what I found her hand shot up telling me to stay still and quiet. She closed her eyes and seemed to focus more intently on her hearing, quickly she pushed the lock on the door and slid into the darkness of a shadow. I followed her lead and ducked behind a desk out of sight. Soon I could hear what Scarlet had; a guard was walking around checking to make sure doors were locked. As the rattle of door knobs grew closer to us plans started jumping around in my head, if we were found now some parts of the original plan would be almost impossible.

The door knob of the office started to move and I realized that I was holding my breath. The guard on the other side of the door seemed to spend more time on our door than the others, were we busted? But the handle stopped rattling and I could hear footsteps moving away and the guard talking to himself, "Heh, the maintenance guys actually remembered to lock their door today."

I slide out from behind the desk and saw Scarlet came back into view by the door. She gave me the thumbs up when she couldn't hear the guard any more and came over to see what I found. Using the desk I hid behind I unrolled the ventilation plans and began tracing my finger over it.

"So what exactly are we looking for here?" Scarlet asked.

"A part of the ventilation system that goes off on a tangent somewhere or maybe a part of the system that is sitting in nothing." I said continuing to search.

"So basically where ever the whitecoats are is a place not on these plans, why would they mark the vents then?" Scarlet asked.

I tapped a part of the plans that seemed to work for what I was looking for, "Because Red the whole building's system is connected so they couldn't really make a separate system on top of the one they already had, too much attention. Anyway I found what I was looking for, let's go." I rolled the plans up and put them back where I found them, don't want them catching on how I found their little shop of horrors. Scarlet was at the door again nodding that we were good to go and we dove back out into the hall moving as quick as we could.

The next stop on our tour was the actual ventilation room; here was where the main control system controlled the air pumping into the vents. I popped a hatch on the side of the unit and stuck my head in for a look around. The metal ducts went off in a few directions but I was more interested in the down. Scarlet gave me an incredulous; she was obviously still having doubts about what we had to do. So I shot her one of my beaming fully confident smiles, which I just made up right there, and plunged right into the duct. We began our long trek through the vents crawling up to the drop down and at this moment I really wished that I could get out 'cause the small space was driving me crazy and it's only been a few minutes. I swung my legs over the drop and began climbing down, giving even my genetically enhanced muscles a workout, bracing my hands and feet on the cold walls of the duct.

The climbing or more accurately sliding was long and grueling; we dropped down four floors then crawled for a while and began another drop down another five floors. At one point we had to stop, Scarlet got her skirt caught and I gave her a look that said I told you so about the skirt which she responded by sticking her tongue out at me. By the time we reached point on the plans where the ventilation system ran into nothing we were both breathing heavily and itching to get out of the suffocating small space. When we crossed over into the blank area of the plans I knew we were in the right place, as we passed various grates in the ducts I could see whitecoats moving around and also people in trench coats that spoke with a silky tone to their voice that I knew betrayed the wolfish features they were hiding underneath. Erasers plus whitecoats equals evil genetic lab, just for those of you not keeping track of these things.

Keeping as quiet as possible we continued crawling, stopping at every grate we came to so we could look for Nails. At some point Scarlet grabbed my ankle and nearly scarred the life out of me. I turned back giving her a look that was the complete opposite of when we started our crawl. She didn't say anything but pointed off to the right and then tapped her ear, Scarlet had heard something we had to check out. I nodded and followed the map in my head I made after memorizing the vent system and took us in the direction Scarlet wanted. When she tugged on my ankle again Scarlet pointed down and we looked through a grate to look in on a couple whitecoats sitting around watching monitors and looking out a huge window. Scarlet tried to stifle a gasp by covering her mouth but it didn't work to well, she pointed out to the window but I couldn't see from where I was.

"Nails is out there and their about to let in two Eraser." She looked at me and I could see the concern for her little brother in her eyes. "Cobalt they'll rip him to shreds."


	4. Chapter 4

Again I know its been a long time since I've updated this and I apologize to everyone who is enjoying this story, but I had some things (which if anyone cares to check out is posted on my main page) happen. But enough of all that here's chapter four, where we have another member of the Flock make his appearance. So enjoy and leave a review, because if I get reviews they make me write quicker.

Maximum Ride is owned by James Patterson. Cobalt Streak is DuskW's brain child so think on that for a minute.

_**Chapter 4**_

The sound of tapping keyboards and muttered conversations were the only sounds that I could hear as my mind raked over the possibilities of what I could do in this situation. The whitecoats were planning to let two Erasers into the room that Nails was standing in and just like Scarlet said they would rip him to shreds.

Scarlet shook my shoulder, "Cobalt what are we going to do?" I looked up to meet her gaze, probably having the same look of concern on my face that she did. Facing off against guards I was expecting but this situation was totally over my head. If we broke into the control room below us then the Erasers would slaughter Nails before we could get to him. If we go to help Nails then the whitecoats would throw the alarm and we would probably trapped in that room.

The only plan I could come up with is that we split up and hit both rooms at the same time, but the timing had to be right. "Okay Scarlet this is what we're going to do." I laid out my plan for her, still whispering so that the whitecoats we were eavesdropping on couldn't hear us. When I finished Scarlet nodded her head and gave me a whispered "Be careful." As quietly as I could I turned in the vent and crawled a bit further up stopping at a grate that looked down on the room that Nails was in.

I glanced back and watched Scarlet, the plan was that she would go through first and take out the whitecoats, that way I wouldn't have to worry about any alarms sounding. After a minute I go through my grate and make Nails' fight a little fairer. Down at the other grate Scarlet tensed, they must have let the Erasers in with Nails. She looked at me and nodded before raising her fist back and punching the cover off the grate. She was through in a second and I could hear the confused shouts and gasps to Scarlet's sudden appearance.

Seconds passed and I didn't hear any alarms blare so I punched out my own grate and dove in for the rescue. As soon as I was in the much more open room I let my wings out and turned in mid-air so that I was coming down feet first. Snarls issued from below as the two morphed Erasers raised their heads, I guess to find the cause of the intrusion on their little slaughter. I didn't bother to flap, not wanting to waste any time, and landed right in between Nails and the Erasers, crouched protectively with my wings spread to their full length. The Erasers sneered at me, a thrumming sound coming from their throats I guessed was an amused laugh.

"You mutts might want to consider making this a fair fight before ganging up on little kids." I said. I took a quick glance back at Nails, he seemed to be alright except for the bruising over most of his body, some fresh and some healing. He looked a little stunned at my entrance but it didn't look like he had any idea of who I really was yet, probably for the best, long thought dead friend coming back from the grave might be just the tiniest distraction.

One of the Erasers snarled as it lunged at me, I took a quick step to the side and turned back handing him across the face with a closed fist. The sudden lunge was followed by the other Eraser coming up at me with his claw aimed at my gut. I moved to block but Nails leapfrogged over me and planted his foot into the Eraser's face. When he landed we turned back to back, each facing an Eraser of our own.

"Not bad kid looks like you learned a thing or two." I said eyeing my Eraser as he slowly began to circle us.

"I don't know who you are but I can take care of myself just fine," Nails sounded angry, probably because he didn't know if I was a trick of the whitecoats or not, "just let me do my own thing alright."

"If your own thing involves you surviving so I don't have to hear your sister complain then by all means go right ahead." I said and felt Nails slightly tense when I mentioned his sister. "Right now though I think we have more pressing concerns than whether you can take care of yourself or not."

The Erasers had stopped circling us, they lunged forward each with a massive claw anxious to tear us to shreds. "Up!" I yelled and jumped as I high as I could. Nails mimicked my motion and unfurled his own wings, the ash grey wings slipping easily through the scrubs he was wearing. We flew out of reach and watched as the Erasers clawed at the thin air where we had been. Despite their strength the one advantage we had over the Erasers was our ability to fly, a few quick hits from the sky and we could beat them hands down.

At least I thought so until I watched in horror as the Erasers slipped off their long coats and unfurled massive wings of their own. Now I could understand why the whitecoats let the Erasers loose on Nails without pinning his wings down, they wanted the fight to take to the air. How else could they see if their latest nightmare was an effective killing machine unless they had the appropriate bait?

When the Erasers took off I watched how they moved. Their huge bodies took to the air like a fish taking to dry land, these guys couldn't fly even if they were on a plane with peanuts and an in flight movie. Instead of an advantage their bulky bodies were actually making the strain to stay in the air. Maybe our advantage in the air wasn't totally lost after all.

I dove at one of the Erasers easily flitting around him I spun in the air and landed a kick to his back, right between his wings. The Eraser howled in pain as he dropped a few feet in the air before regaining what little control he had with his patchwork wings. I looked back to Nails and saw that he was having an easy time with his own opponent. He had taken to using his unique ability that he actually had in common with the Erasers. Nails could morph part of his body, to be more specific his hands.

Unlike the rest of us who are 98 percent human and 2 percent bird Nails is 97 percent human and 3 percent bird. That difference of one percent gave Nails an extra bird trait that allowed him to make his hands talon-like. Morphed his hands have a scaly kind of texture, while his finger tips sharpen into talons. Unmorphed though his hands are extremely sensitive picking up the slightest tremor of movement or impression. Right now though his digits were doing some serious damage to his Eraser's wing.

Nails had dropped down quick and raked his talons over the Eraser's wing, cutting the bulky thing as he fell. The Eraser howled in pain and fell back toward the ground, not even trying to regain its altitude. It hit the ground hard and didn't look like it was getting back up anytime soon. Not to be out done by the kid I flew back at the Eraser that was still trying to regain its composure in the air. Close to the Eraser I back peddled with my wings pulling my body into a flip, bringing my leg straight out I brought it down on the Eraser's shoulder. My usual bird kid strength plus the extra something I got from the centrifugal force of my flip resulted in a nice crumpling Eraser flailing back to the ground. This time the Eraser didn't regain control and crashed into the ground just like his friend.

With the Erasers taken care of I turned back to Nails to let him in on the escape plan when he swiped at me with his talons. I flew out of the way and put some distance between us, but still the little stinker attacked me how's that for a thank you. _Am I going to be attacked by everyone I rescue?_

"Hey you manicurists nightmare I'm here to save you're sorry butt." I yelled at Nails.

"Right like this isn't another test the whitecoats have come up with. Just stay away from me." Nails was eyeing me cautiously, which in any other situation I would be impressed with, but not when he's sizing me up to make filets out of me.

"You know what after that reception you gave me I just might but I don't think Scarlet would be too happy with me if I did." His face faltered out of his tough guy act for a second when I mentioned Scarlet, and then it was trying to act cool and indifferent. Like I could be fooled by the kid.

"You keep mentioning my sister, but where is she if she's with you?" Nails asked.

Instead of answering I pointed behind him, but Nails probably thought it was a trick so I stopped flapping my wings and landed back on the ground a safe distance between us. He turned around and lost the tough guy attitude almost immediately, Scarlet was waving at him through the window that looked down from the room she was in to our own.

"Scarlet!" Nails yelled happily and flew toward the window, it was a sappy, touchy reunion that would make a good scene in some kiddy movie; almost moved me to tears. Pfft yeah right, but it was nice to see them together again.

"Do you believe me now Nails?" I yelled at him from the ground. Nails turned around and seemed to finally look me over. He landed in front of me, still cautious, and looked like he was finally piecing it together. The look on his face when he figured it out was hilarious, slack jawed and wide eyed I almost busted a gut right there.

"Cobalt." He said my name quietly, not sure if he was right or not until I nodded my head. "Cobalt you're alive!" Nails launched himself at me and tackled me to the ground.

His exuberance at my being alive made me laugh, I ruffled his hair as he gripped me around my waist, "It's good to see you to Nails, but how about we save the happy reunions for when we're out of here?"

He let go of me and looked at me nodding, his face was back to how I remembered it wide eyed, happy with just the hint of mischief hidden underneath. We flew back up to the vent I had come out of and crawled our way over to join Scarlet. When the two of us dropped in the room Scarlet wrapped Nails into a bone crush hug, again the scene made me feel like I was going to get cavities but I guess in a good way.

"So did you leave any of them awake like I asked Red?" I looked around the room taking in the unconscious whitecoats all laid out on the floor, Scarlet had done some good work in my opinion.

"Why Steve here was more than glad to stay awake for a nice chat with you." Scarlet said and pointed to a man cowering on the floor just behind her. I raised an eyebrow at the way Steve was trembling while he looked at Scarlet, what exactly she did to scare this guy so much (not that he didn't deserve it, mad scientist that he is). I took a chair that had fallen over and sat it up right with the back facing Steve. I sat down and let me wings hang out a little for show. Steve focused on me now that I was taking up all of his attention. I grinned at him and went right into my act.

"How're you doing Steve? It's alright if I call you Steve right? Well Steve me and my friends here need a little help." Steve just stared at me wide eyed, still trembling a little. "Now Steve I need you to tell me some things about this building here, more importantly I need you to tell me how to get back to the lobby."

"Th..the lobby?" Steve said softly, unsure of where I was going with this.

"That's right Steve the lobby, see me and my friends have things to do so we'd like to get going. You know how it goes, "Places to go, people to see" I'm sure you understand." From the looks of him I doubt if Steve could understand how to tie his own shoes at this moment in time.

"But you can't leave." Steve said almost as if he were trying to believe it himself as much as he was trying to make us believe.

I shook my head really acting it up with the friendly pal act, "Now Steve when you go and say things like that it makes my friends unhappy, I mean just look at them." I turned my head and winked at the others, they caught on. Steve looked timidly at them and seemed to shrink back against the wall more than I thought was possible. Scarlet was cracking her knuckles with a look on her face that reminded me of when I took a spoonful of ice cream from her a few days ago. Nails was a little creepier though when he caught on, he smiled at Steve and waved a taloned hand at him, I choked back a laugh not wanting to ruin the atmosphere.

"See what I mean Steve," I started talking again and Steve looked a little relieved that I wasn't going to feed him to Scarlet and Nails, at least not right away. "now about that help that you can give me."

"Wh..what do you want to know?"

"Well Steve, first how about telling me how many more Erasers are around."

Steve took a quick look over my shoulder to where Nails and Scarlet were when he answered, "There aren't any more, it was just the two in the observation room."

"Now Steve lying to me isn't the best thing for you to do right now."

Steve shook his head furiously fast, "I'm not lying, I'm telling you the truth. There were only the two, this facility is just a testing site we don't have the need for such heavy security here."

"I don't know Steve it really feels like you're lying to me." I sighed at the end and started to look behind me again. The color in Steve's face seemed to drain at the thought of having Scarlet and Nails back in on the conversation.

"No wait what else do you need to know," Steve was pleading now, "how to get to the lobby right? That's easy I can tell you that, it's right out the door go right down the hall, turn left at the end and then straight. You'll see the elevator right there."

I pulled my grin a little wider, "See Steve it wasn't that hard to help us out was it?" He nodded his head still keeping his wide eyes on me. "Now is there anything else we need to know before we go Steve?"

Slowly Steve took off the ID badge on his coat and handed it to me, "You need to swipe the card in front of the lock to get the elevator to move and then again in the elevator to access the controls."

I stuck the badge in the pocket of my jeans and got from the chair, "Steve thanks a bunch for all your help."

Steve sighed in relief, he was going to be freed from his little mutant chat. He got up on his feet although he still seemed to be shaking. "You really shouldn't be leaving though." He spoke so softly that I almost didn't hear him. "The world just isn't safe for you."

I walked over to good old Steve and put my hand on his shoulder. He trembled even more at the physical contact. "No Steve the world is perfect for us." Still grinning at him I head-butted good old Steve. "It's you jerks that aren't safe for us"

"Very mature Cobalt." Scarlet said.

Nails knocked the back of his fist against mine, "Excellent." He said.

"Okay how about we get out of here." We huddled around the door while Scarlet listened to see if the coast was clear. She gave the thumbs up and we ducked out into the hall following Steve's directions and still keeping a wary eye out for Erasers, that part I still couldn't believe. Amazing though we didn't run into anyone on our run to the elevator.

"Huh I guess some mad science labs aren't all about the security." I said as I passed Steve's ID badge through the elevator lock. The door opened with the usual elevator ding and the three of us scrambled inside. I passed the badge through the lock again and punched in the L button. A few minutes later I was glad to get out since Nails had taken to singing along with the elevator music, let's just say he's no Frank Sinatra.

We ran at full speed to the open windowed lobby, surprising the security guards sitting at their round little counter. They began to get up when they saw us coming, "Don't bother getting up guys." I said as we passed them. I grabbed one of those little ash tray trashcan things that was just lying around, "We'll show ourselves out."

Nails laughed as I hurled the small cylinder in my arms through the window, which I'm sure the whitecoats are insured for just under their escaped mutant experimentation clause. Back outside we ran into an alley besides the building and took off into the air, all of us hooting in laughter as we raced across the night sky.

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Dr. Reichter was always fascinated when he watched the processing tanks, the transformation of organisms before his very eyes was a true marvel. He had received news of the incident at the Phoenix facility an hour ago and was truly interested as to how the avian hybrid was making its way to each of these secret locations and compromising them. Although the hybrid was making it easier for Dr. Reichter to proceed with his own plans, the Director wanted no loose ends with her project coming so close to completion so she was allowing him more resources to handle the situation.

Such resources were being used just now as the being in the processing tank began to stir. Dr. Reichter turned to the technician monitoring the tank and gave him a nod. The technician understood and began going through the process of draining the cloudy liquid from tank. As the liquid receded the being in the tank slowly fell to his feet, slouching some as he used his muscles for the first time to stand. The person in the tank opened his muddy brown eyes and stared at Dr. Reichter who stared back at him.

"Do you know who I am?" Dr. Reichter asked. The man in the tank slowly nodded his head. "Good. Do you know who you are?"

The muddy brown eyes closed for a second and then the man nodded his head again.

"Excellent, now the final question." Dr. Reichter allowed himself a small grin, "Do you know what you were reborn for?"

The man opened his eyes and removed the breathing apparatus that covered his mouth, smiling as his teeth sharpened into razor like fangs, "I am to kill Cobalt."


End file.
